John Dies at the End is a tough movie to describe, but my initial impression from the trailers that it appeared to be Buckaroo Banzai meets Naked Lunch is probably as close as you can get to nailing down this cult film in-the-making about two amateur supernatural sleuths who take on such foes as a meat monster, a body-infecting swarm of alien souls, and an extra-dimensional sentient machine who is the source of all evil on parallel Earth.

Of course, I could just ask the people who made it to tell me more. So in the first of two exclusive John Dies interviews, I spoke with actor/producer Paul Giamatti - who is definitely using his fame and acclaim for good - in a wide-ranging conversation that also touches on Shakespeare, Mary Poppins, Bubba Nosferatu, The Goon and yes, even Big Fat Liar.

Luke Y. Thompson: How did you come to be an executive producer on this film?

Paul Giamatti: Well, I have a small production company, and we've done several movies, a couple of touchy-feely films, and I was interested in doing something with Don that was - anything really. We were interested in doing a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, in which I was going to act, and provide producorial services, and when this movie came up, the same deal was in place; we would help in whatever way we could as producers, and I would act in it as well. So any way we could help them get this movie made, I was willing to do.

LYT: When you talk about the sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, were you going to be playing Elvis, or a different role?

PG: No, it was a sequel called Bubba Nosferatu, in which I was going to play Colonel Parker, his manager, and a lot of it was about the relationship between Elvis and Col. Parker. Hopefully, we might actually get it done. If people like this movie, maybe it'll help with that.

LYT: That sounds like pretty perfect casting.

PG: Yeah, it would be fun!

LYT: When you're playing a role like this, I'm going to dance around spoiling anything, but your character is not what he thinks he is. As an actor, do you play only what he thinks he is, or do you throw in bits of what he doesn't know he is?

PG: I only played what he thinks he is, because he doesn't know he's not - and then the fun of it is playing the crisis he has of realizing he's not who he thinks he is, and the sort of sadness he has when he realizes...

(SPOILER deleted)

So basically, there's no need to play two things, because he has no idea.

LYT: Were you just on set for the days of your scene, or were you there to see some of the other craziness?

PG: A couple of other times. For the most part, it was mostly just the days that I (had to) be there. I went a couple other times to see him.

LYT: Was it a surprise when you saw the final film and saw how cool everything was?

PG: I did see parts of it as he was editing, so I was sort of aware, but to see the whole thing done and how closely he had realized what was on the page was kind of amazing. I was really, really happy with the whole thing.

LYT: What was it that made you a fan of Don's in the first place that made you want to work with him? Was it the Phantasm movies, or Bubba Ho-Tep?

PG: Yeah, the Phantasm movies. I always remember them; I was very much a fan of the Phantasm movies. I saw the first one when I was a kid, when it came out, and I really liked the sensibility of them, the mixture of pop genres, the horror and sci-fi thing, and the humor. I've always liked them. Bubba Ho-Tep kind of particularly put me over the top. I really, really liked that movie a lot! So that was the one that made me want to work with him, more than anything.

LYT: Even though it's early in the year yet, I think it's safe to say this is probably one of the most original movies that we'll see all year. Did that make it difficult to get made, the fact that it wasn't really like anything that you could pitch, except maybe Naked Lunch?

PG: Well, we did originally submit this to one studio; a woman I knew at one studio, and she loved it. She wrote us a four or five page letter back, a point by point list of everything that she loved about this movie. Then the last thing on the letter basically said "Because of everything I've just pointed out to you, there's absolutely no way we'd ever make this movie. Every single thing I love about this movie is why it will never get made." So that was pretty much a clear indication that no studio was ever going to make it! (laughs)

So we had to make it off the grid, completely. Don was going to make it the way he's made things before, which is an insane, laborious, crazy way of doing things, but it's how he's done it before. So it was not going to be compromised in its originality; he was going to do it in the crazy way that he does it. If we had made it at a studio, it wouldn't be original. We couldn't have made it.

LYT: It really speaks to what you can do on a low budget these days. If you compare the visuals in this to some of his other films, it's a leap forward because of how easy the technology is to access at this point.

PG: He was saying that in Phantasm 4, they had two visual effects shots that cost something like ten to fifteen thousand dollars, and now you can do it in fifteen minutes on your computer, and it's nothing. So it really is kind of astonishing that you can do this.

LYT: There's more source material, and you've got an expansive world out here. Have there been thoughts of doing more with it, obviously with some regard to how it's received and how well it does?

PG: Sure. It would be helpful if people like it. I know that David Wong, who wrote the original, the book, he wrote a sequel to it. That would be fun to do, if people like this. There are all kinds of ways this could continue on. I could almost see this being a good television show, in a funny way. I think it could work as a TV series. But if people like it, I'm sure Don would be game for doing something else.

Agreed, movies made by people who love movies will always beat the crap out of big budget monstrosities made by people pursuing a paycheck - not that the two are exclusive but great glob do I see a lot of movies made by people who clearly didn't care. Also agreed about TV, it has matured as a medium for story telling. In some ways it is superior to big screen film now.

Thank you very much, Luke!! This was very fun!! Paul Giamatti is one of my favorite actors of the last decade, and I loved John Dies at the End!!! So much so, in fact, that I'm reading the sequel, This Book is Full of Spiders, right now and it's great. I really hope John Dies at the End does well enough that they decide to do a film adaptation of Spiders too!!! And i'm definitely looking forward to Bubba Nosferatu!!!